


Read Between the Lines

by ericsonclan



Series: OG World [80]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Deaf Character, F/M, First Meetings, Fluff, Mute Louis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:28:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29615001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericsonclan/pseuds/ericsonclan
Summary: A fic for our dear friend bluebutterfly! <3Autumn and Louis meet for the first time.
Relationships: Autumn/Louis (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Series: OG World [80]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1815361
Kudos: 4





	Read Between the Lines

**Author's Note:**

> (by Laura)

It was a nice day out today. Autumn closed her eyes for a moment as a soft breeze blew through her hair, carrying the scent of the forest with it. She opened them quickly though – didn’t want to risk tripping over a rock and falling straight into the stream that ran alongside their path. If Ricardo’s calculations were right, it wouldn’t be far now. She never expected to be sent back to school after the end of the world made her flunk first grade, but here she was on the way to Ericson. She wondered what it was like living in an abandoned school.

Autumn glanced over at Ricardo and Jada, walking ahead of her on the path. She wondered how they felt about going to the school. Were they nervous, excited? Nah, this was probably second nature for them by now. They’d both been with the caravan for years; they were used to meeting and bartering with strangers. Autumn still felt like a rookie compared to them. She’d spent so much time on her own these past years that any sort of human interaction still felt like a big deal, even if she craved it.

Jada glanced back and Autumn gave a smile and an awkward thumbs up. Jada simply nodded. “Keep your eyes sharp when we get in there. There’s never any telling what to expect when you first visit a base,”

Autumn bobbed her head once to indicate she’d read Jada’s lips before looking away. She couldn’t really confirm anything besides affirmation, at least not while walking. Her notebook was tucked away in her backpack and none of the members of the caravan had bothered to pick up much sign language yet. Jada wasn’t much of a conversationalist anyways.

Suddenly Ricardo pointed through the trees to a tall brick structure in the near distance. Ericson Academy. The name was in the wrought iron of the gates themselves, standing proudly at the top. Clearly this used to be a well-established institution. Now a guard tower stood by the entrance, a young, wild-haired boy keeping guard. His eyes grew large as he saw them approach. He turned and called out to someone within the school.

Moments later a slim young man came to great them at the gates. His clothes were as weathered as all of theirs, but his hair and beard looked well-trimmed. He introduced himself as Aasim then welcomed Ricardo and Jada. He paused though when his eyes fell upon Autumn; he hadn’t been told her name. Ricardo waved a hand dismissively behind him, saying something Autumn couldn’t quite catch since he wasn’t fully facing her. Aasim guided them toward the nearest building that lay directly in front of them.

Autumn followed along until she felt Jada’s hand holding her back. She looked up to see the older woman facing her point blank. “Stay back and keep watch. See what you can pick up about the others here and the surroundings,”

Autumn thought to protest for a moment. What was the point of bringing her along to learn the ropes if she wouldn’t even be there to see the negotiation? But she knew it wasn’t any use arguing. Jada didn’t like complaints. She’d already moved on anyway, leaving Autumn beside the flagpole to fend for herself. Autumn glanced up at the tattered death metal band t-shirt waving from said flagpole in the breeze. _Festive._

Her eyes scanned the courtyard, taking in her surroundings. There weren’t many people outside. A small child with an afro had joined the wild-haired one up on the watchtower and another afroed boy stood by one of the firepits, stirring something in a large cauldron. A plump young woman carried a basket of some sort of greens over to him and struck up a conversation. Besides that, the only one in the courtyard was another young man, sitting quietly and writing something in a journal.

Autumn watched him with curiosity. Whatever he was writing in that journal clearly interested him. He was bent over it, his dreadlocks swaying slightly as they covered part of his face. He was busy, but not in conversation like the others around him. Maybe he wouldn’t mind some conversation of his own. Autumn walked over, hoping his personality matched the seemingly friendly exterior. Shrugging her backpack off, she rooted through it as she slowly made her way forward, searching for her notebook. Her fire poker stuck out at an odd angle from one corner of the bag as she pushed her water bottle and some ancient power bars to the side. Her notebook had gotten wedged at the bottom of the bag. Sticking out her tongue in concentration, Autumn worked to free it. _C’mon, c’mon… gotcha!_

Looking up with a grin, her notebook raised proudly in one hand, Autumn was shocked to see the boy had spotted her. She thought she’d been fairly quiet as she approached, but what did she know. Maybe she made a weird victory sound when she successfully dug out her notebook? Autumn had been told before that she had a habit of doing that. Wanting to assure the boy she meant no harm, Autumn offered a smile and a wave.

The young man looked somewhat confused but returned the wave in kind, a faint smile crossing his lips. That was all the confirmation Autumn needed. Clearing the rest of the distance to the picnic table, she plopped down upon it, opened her notebook to its first page and showed him her standard opening message. “Hi, I’m Autumn! I’m deaf so I use this notebook to talk!”

The dreadlocked boy read the message carefully, his nose scrunching in concentration.

 _Dang, he has a lot of freckles!_ Considering he had a journal, Autumn hoped he was up for writing back and forth. If he didn’t want to use up his own paper supply, they could always pass her notebook across the table.

As soon as he’d finished reading the message, the boy’s eyes lit up. Turning round, he grabbed something from beside him on the bench. It was a notebook! Just like hers! The boy grinned as he saw Autumn’s excitement before growing self-conscious and letting his eyes fall. Opening the notebook to the next blank page, he wrote out a message then held up the notebook for her to see. “My name’s Louis. I’m mute so I have a notebook too!”

 _No. Freaking. Way._ Autumn’s hands practically shook with excitement as she scribbled down her next note. “Does that mean you know ASL?”

Louis’ expression drooped a bit at her message. Slowly he wrote his own out. “No, sorry. Never learned.”

 _Dang it. That would’ve made talking so much faster._ No matter. She was used to being the one who knew ASL anyway. Pressing her pencil to paper, Autumn penned her next response. “No biggie. It’s plenty awesome just meeting someone like me. Have you lived here long?”

Louis nodded as he read the question then wrote out his response. “Since this whole shitshow started,”

Autumn was flabbergasted. She wrote quickly, trying to get all her thoughts out. “Seriously? That’s amazing! I’ve never met anybody who’s in the same spot as they were in when the world ended. How did you guys do it?”

Louis read the message carefully and considered his answer before writing. “A lot of us didn’t make it. But we have walls. We’re remote. We all trust each other,”

Autumn nodded, writing neatly before showing her paper. “Trust is the most important thing. Not many groups have it,”

“Do you trust your group?” The words stood out on Louis’ paper. Autumn read them a few times. How much should she share with this guy? Was he trying to get information from her? Then again, wasn’t she trying to do the same thig, just in the friendliest way possible?”

“I’ve been with this group for just a few months,” Autumn wrote, choosing her words carefully. “It’s good to not be alone anymore,”

“They’re nice?” The look in Louis’ eyes showed the question was well-intentioned.

“They’re fair. They’re good at surviving too. Haven’t lost anyone though we travel a lot,”

Louis nodded in understanding. He didn’t seem inclined to press farther.

Enough of the serious questions. It was time for some fun. “So, what’s there to do around here? An abandoned school, you must have some cool stuff,”

“We have a piano,” Louis responded quickly. The way his face lit up when he shared that message with Autumn told her it was special to him. As their eyes met though, she saw realization hit him and he looked away, embarrassed.

 _Crap. Is it because he remembered I’m deaf? Does he think he insulted me?_ Autumn tapped lightly on the table to get Louis’ attention then wrote down her response. “I love music. I enjoy the vibrations even if I don’t hear it like most people do. I haven’t gotten to have it around much since the world ended though. You play the piano then?”

“A little bit,”

“Maybe some time you can show me?”

Louis’ eyes shot up with interest at that line. “You’ll be back?”

Autumn nodded, flexing a cramp out of her wrist before continuing. “At least a few times according to my leader,”

Louis seemed really pleased at that answer. His smile was infectious. Autumn could feel her own smile growing as well. Slowly he penned his next words, his dreadlocks swaying a bit as he leaned forward in concentration. “How about you? What do you like to do for fun?”

“Climbing. Hiking. Exploring. Stuff like that,”

“Guess that lines up with a life on the road pretty well, huh?”

Autumn chuckled at Louis’ response. “Fair. Any other hobbies? Something you keep tucked under your sleeve?”

A somewhat mischievous glint came into Louis’ eyes when he read that question. Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out a deck of cards then scribbled a quip down on his notebook. “Not quite up my sleeve, but close enough. Wanna play?”

Autumn nodded early, jotting a message on the corner of her almost full page. “What game?”

Louis put a hand to his chin in thought before writing his answer. “Truth or dare?”

“Bring it on,”

\---

It was an engaging game of truth or dare for the both of them. Neither was sure how soon Autumn would be called away so they kept their dares smaller, things that could be accomplished while sitting at the table such as holding your breath for as long as possible or balancing a pencil on your nose for 30 seconds. The questions were light and playful too, little insights into each others’ lives and funny tales. They both enjoyed the time greatly, so much so that it seemed no time had passed at all when Autumn spotted Ricardo and Jada leaving the admin building.

Louis’ face fell as his eyes followed Autumn’s over to her companions. Autumn gave him a sympathetic smile and a shrug before reaching for her backpack. She had to be ready to move; Ricardo wouldn’t want to waste any time. Before putting away her notebook, she scribbled one last message down for Louis. “It was lots of fun meeting you. When we visit next, I’ll be sure to come back,”

“The pleasure was all mine,” Louis responded. He paused for a moment before writing one thing more. “I really hope you can come again,”

His enthusiasm at that idea warmed Autumn’s heart. Giving Louis a final wave before putting her backpack on, Autumn headed over to meet up with the others. Ricardo ended his conversation with Aasim and signaled both women to head out. As soon as they were through the gate, he turned to look at Autumn. “Did you learn anything useful?”

Autumn hesitated, wondering if she should stop for a moment to grab her notebook out of her backpack.

Ricardo immediately realized his mistake and waved a hand to tell her not to bother. “We’ll talk when we reach camp,” With that he strode forward, taking the lead, Jada hurrying to match his pace, and Autumn took up the rear.

She wasn’t sure if she’d learned anything useful. The people seemed nice. Louis trusted them completely and based off her gut Autumn trusted Louis. It wasn’t much in the way of information but given the fact that they had her wait outside Autumn didn’t think they’d expected her to find much anyway. No matter. She’d had a good day and a great conversation, probably the best she’d had in a long time. She hoped they’d come back to Ericson soon. She couldn’t wait to talk with Louis again.


End file.
